Smoking Popes

8 p.m. Monday, October 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

The brothers Caterer had no way of knowing the far-reaching effect they would have on the music world when they formed the Smoking Popes in 1991. How could they? At the time the youngest of the three, guitarist Eli, was only sixteen years old. Fast-forward two decades, and the seminal pop-punk band's work is cited by many of today's giants of the field as an influence. Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba has said it was one of the reasons he started a band in the first place; Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz has compared the group favorably to fellow Chicago act Naked Raygun. In this writer's opinion, Smoking Popes blows all of the bands mentioned above out of the water.

Born To Quit: In addition to some choice singles, the band will be playing its 1994 fan favorite Born to Quit in its entirety at this show. The album is also set for a late October re-release on Side One Dummy Records.